Campbelltown tornado: Residents, officials recall chaotic day

Part 1

CAMPBELLTOWN -- On July 14, 2004, Ronnie Fisher was at home working on her computer in the mid-afternoon, when her 9-year-old granddaughter, Asia, informed her that a storm was brewing outside.

Asia Fisher, Samantha Fisher and Ronnie Fisher talk about a tornado that destroyed their home ten years ago on July 14, 2014. Jeremy Long -- Lebanon Daily News

Within a few moments, Fisher and her family would be huddled together in their basement while a tornado packing 200 mph winds ripped through their home and more than 30 others in a nearby housing development in South Londonderry Township, injuring 24 people.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the storm that wreaked havoc as it crossed Lebanon County. Fisher's home as well as the others destroyed or damaged by the tornado have been rebuilt. Life in the area has returned to normal. But the memories remain.

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At 2:56 p.m. on July 14, 2004, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Lebanon County.

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The tornado touched down around Bachmanville and School House roads in Derry Township, then headed into South Londonderry Township toward Route 117 and Bell Road, where it ripped through the home of Robert and Ronnie Fisher, then crossed the roadway into Country Squire Estates.

The F-3 tornado did its worst damage in the housing development, but it continued east, spanning seven miles and causing extensive damage across several municipalities before it dissipated.

Fisher, who lives at 1939 S.

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LDNews reporter Chris Sholly, who wrote this article, reported on the aftermath of the 2004 tornado. Listen as she reflects on that day.

LDNews reporters John Latimer and Les Stewart were on scene soon after the tornado struck.

John W. Breive, coordinator of the Western Lebanon County Regional EMA, talks about his response to the scene.

Forge Road, said when she looked out her window, the rain was so thick, she couldn't see into the backyard. She said she started to close the windows, but "they wouldn't move for me. And the walls seemed like they were moving; pulsating."

Asia, now 19, said she was in the living room with one of her 2-year-old cousins. "I picked him up and walked out of the living room. As soon as I walked out of the room, I heard this crash, and right where we had been sitting, the window had crashed."

Fisher's sons, David and Dean, who had been outside, came inside and hustled everyone into the basement. Her daughter, Brenda, who was asleep in a bedroom during the storm, miraculously was not hurt.

Ronnie Fisher stands on the front porch of her home in South Londonderry Township along Route 117 on Thursday, June 19, 2014. Ten years ago, Fisher's house was destroyed by a tornado that ripped through the area. The brick walkway leading to her new home was made with the bricks from her old home. Jeremy Long -- Lebanon Daily News

Although it took the tornado took only a few minutes to pass over their home, Asia said it seemed like hours.

"We were petrified," Fisher added, describing the sound of the tornado as a "roar that just kept pounding in your ears."

"You felt the pressure in your ears. It sounded like we were standing in the middle of a wind tunnel. It didn't sound anything like a train," Asia said, referring to the way tornado victims sometimes describe the sound of the high winds.

After the tornado passed, the family came upstairs.

"It was like your worst nightmare," Fisher said. "I came upstairs, and I saw clouds (instead of the roof). The sidewall was out against the cars."
The walls looked like they had been painted with mud, Fisher said. She looked across Route 117 and saw other homes completely gone.

'I never saw anything like it'

Lebanon County administrator Jamie Wolgemuth remembered that everyone at the courthouse was asked to go into the basement.

It wasn't until around 4 p.m., an hour after the tornado went through Campbelltown, that Wolgemuth was able to see the damage in person. When he arrived at the scene of the devastation, Wolgemuth recalled his first reaction.

"I never saw anything like it," he said. "You could see foundations that were cleared. And there were vehicles that were overturned and looked like they had been pushed with bulldozers into buildings. You see it on the national news, but it doesn't have an impact because you're not there and don't see it firsthand - but when you do, it's unbelievable."

Much of that day and night are a blur, he said, but what he recalled most were the people.

"They were in the fire hall, and they just don't know what to do. Everything is gone, and two hours before the sun was shining," Wolgemuth said.

One of the first things county officials did was to put their planners who were certified as building inspectors to work going through the homes that were still standing in Country Squire Estates to make sure they were safe before allowing residents to return.

Wolgemuth was stationed at the Campbelltown Volunteer Fire Co. social hall, where the residents had been taken until emergency responders and inspectors could secure the area.

"Some of them had come from work and didn't even get into the subdivision," he recalled. "They couldn't get to their homes, so they didn't know if their house was standing or damaged or gone."

At 5:37 p.m., a county-wide disaster was declared by the county commissioners.

'It was pretty crazy'

David Brandt looks through a photo album of damage to his farm in South Londonderry Township after a tornado tore through the area 10 years ago on July 14, 2004. His grandson, Mark Brandt (at right) was at the farm when the tornado struck. Jeremy Long -- Lebanon Daily News

The tornado left Country Squire Estates, blowing across the farm fields of Lloyd Sensenig and the Brandt farm at 2044 Horseshoe Pike (Route 322), where it tore the tops off three silos, destroyed a heifer barn, killing several animals, damaged a second barn and severely damaged the milking barn.

When they rebuilt the silos, they used concrete to reconstruct the largest one.

David Brandt's son, Karl Brandt, was in the heifer shed on the south side of the silos when the tornado hit.

"He said the wood kind of came in on him, then an extra gust of wind blew some of it off of him," Brandt recalled.

After the tornado, the family was able to move its surviving animals to neighboring farms until they could rebuild. Brandt said it took about 10 days to rebuild the milking barn but it took until October to rebuild the heifer sheds and get the animals back from their temporary homes on neighboring farms.
"We had a lot of help for quite a long time," he said. "A lot of people, we didn't have a clue who they were. They just showed up."

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Brandt said the family was grateful for all the help received.

"You don't want to be on the receiving end, but sometimes you have to be, I guess. Without them, we wouldn't have gotten the heifers back as quick as we did," he said.

His grandson, Mark Brandt, 22, remembered being on the wraparound porch hanging out with his friends when the sunny sky turned dark and the wind kicked up. They realized it was a tornado and ran inside to the basement until it was over, he said.

Mark said what he recalls most is "the shock of coming outside, and everything was down. I couldn't say anything. It was pretty crazy."

In 2010, the Brandts experienced another tornado on the farm, although it caused little damage. David was in the milking barn when the 2010 tornado blew across the farm again. He felt safe inside the stone structure, he said.

"It seems like it went right between the house and the barn. It sounds pretty fierce. They say it sounds like a freight train. That's pretty true," he said.
After the 2004 tornado, Mark said, he would get a little nervous when there was a storm on the horizon, especially if there were high winds. But now, "Unless it gets super windy, I don't really think about it."

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Rosemary Kays, who was South Londonderry's township manager at the time, was vacationing with her family in Delaware when she received a call that a tornado had struck the community. Kays said her first reaction was disbelief. But the family quickly packed up and headed home, arriving around 12:30 on the morning of July 15. Her husband dropped her off at Country Squire Estates with the state police. Police and emergency responders were still on scene, trying to help people.

"I couldn't believe what I saw. It was bad at night, but in the daytime, it was even worse," she said.

During the next several days, she worked out of the fire company. The first time she walked into the social hall, she felt "totally overwhelmed. I thought 'What are we going to do with all these people,'" who would need housing, food and other supplies.

Fortunately, she said the local Red Cross chapter was helping to organize assistance for the residents who needed it. "A lot people had family and neighbors who took them in," Kays recalled.

In the days that followed, Kays said volunteers came from everywhere to help.

"All these volunteers showed up. Everyone wanted to help, but no one knew exactly where they were going to help," she said.

She also received calls from people out of state, offering to send equipment and money to the victims. "It was nice to see that so many people were willing to help," she said. "Businesses sent supplies."

The township set up an account where donors could send money for the families. The township received about $100,000, which was distributed to victims by the Palmyra Area Cooperating Churches, Kays said.

After the initial shock, residents and the township began the cleanup process. Eventually, she said, the township returned to normal operations.
But as the rebuilding process began, residents became frustrated with insurance carriers, contractors and the government. Kays said the township did not have a full-time building inspector, so the supervisors hired one to help expedite the process.

"They felt it (the permitting process) was taking too long," Kays said, referring to the residents. "What took time was getting everything set up."

Later that year, she said, township and county officials discussed ways to improve the township's response to future disasters. The township also purchased back-up generators in case of future emergencies.

During the emergency, Kays said, the township's computers were down. Emergency workers needed the names and addresses of residents who lived in Country Squire Estates to help locate all those living in the housing development. Workers had to go door to door, crossing off those they could account for.

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Wolgemuth said he remembers feeling overwhelmed.

"There were so many impacts from it you just didn't know what to do first," he said.

"There were so many things that needed to be done, like keeping all the various levels of government informed. We had U.S. senators who wanted to do tours; we had state officials doing tours. And we had the human demands, where people didn't have a place to stay. Their house was completely gone. Things that you imagine wouldn't be issues became big issues. There were a lot of logistical things to take care of."

The county landfill was open seven days a week for a while because there was so much debris to be hauled out of the housing development and other places that had been hit.

"People from miles around came to see what it looked like, and it was clogging up the traffic, and the trash trucks couldn't get in to drop off the containers so the people could do a cleanup," he added.

But one of his most vivid memories of the disaster, he said, was walking past tables in the fire company social hall that contained personal belongings, including photographs, that had been retrieved from farm fields by volunteers.

"There were old photographs of weddings and things, and it occurred to me that this is all people are going to have left to remember," he said as he tried to hold back tears. "Their house is gone; their clothing is gone; everything is gone. That's something I'll never forget."

Kays said she has noticed that people in Campbelltown are more aware of the weather.

"Even the kids are. They remember the tornadoes. I know we do," she said.

Fisher, too, said her family keeps abreast of weather reports. Her daughter, Samantha, has a weather radio in her room.

Kays said she would never want to experience a disaster such as the tornado again. "It's just exhausting. It's mentally and physically exhausting. It takes a toll on every bit of strength you have," she said.

Still, she has some good memories. One was of a local resident, an elderly man, who came into the fire company one day with a brown paper bag and gave it to fire company officials. The bag contained $10,000 in cash, she said.

"He said he and his wife had always planned to take trips, but she had passed away, so he gave them the money and told them to use it for the people because they needed it," she said.

Kays said she was very touched by the way the community pulled together. "I was really proud."